Dawnay Day is a privately owned

financial services Financial services are the Service (economics), economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, acco ...

group. Founded in 1928, the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based group, employs more than 1,000 employees and claims to own gross assets of more than $4-billion. It has offices in

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, the

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, the US, and

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History

Dawnay Day can trace its history to 1928, when it was founded by Major Julian Day and General Guy Dawnay. French financier Guy Naggar bought Dawnay Day in 1981. Dawnay Day went insolvent in July 2008.

Investments

Dawnay Day bought German department store chain Hertie from Karstadt-Quelle (later

Arcandor Arcandor AG was a holding company located in Essen, Germany, that oversaw a number of companies operating in the businesses of mail order and internet shopping, department stores and tourism services. It was formed in 1999 by the merger of Kar ...

) in partnership with Hilco in 200

Dawnay Day held an 85% stake in Hertie, Hilco held 15%. Hertie filed for bankruptcy on May 20, 2009 since Dawnay Day could not support it any further due to its own dire financial situation. The liquidator of Hertie claimed the department store chain got into difficulties due to improperly high rent payments to the real estate owners, however as seen in the case of

's bankruptcy in June 2009, the whole German department store sector experienced severe difficulties during these times.

Opposition

Dawnay Day has been criticized and opposed for its purchase of 47 apartment buildings in

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, F ...

where it has attempted to gentrify the area and make rents unaffordable to current low-income residents. The gentrification of the area and removal of current renters has been opposed by the tenants based

Movement for Justice in el Barrio Movement for Justice in El Barrio is a community organization based in East Harlem, New York City that is a reaction to, and organizes against, gentrification in the neighborhood. Organisational profile The Movement defines itself as follows: ...

References

{{reflist Investment companies of the United Kingdom 1928 establishments in England British companies established in 1928 Financial services companies established in 1928